Historical horse racing machines will remain shut down in Wyoming for at least weeks, and more likely a few months.
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- Historical Racing Machine Vs Slot Machines
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Since the machines were legalized in Wyoming in 2013, they’ve brought in tens of millions in revenue for the horse racing industry—and generated millions in taxes for the state. Historical horse racing machines currently exist at more than a dozen locations throughout the state.
But a September 23 Wyoming Attorney General’s report found that the “bonus rounds” on most of the machines relied on chance, not skill, to produce an outcome, and therefore, were in violation of the 2013 law that legalized historical horse racing in the state.
Family Trust Foundation of Kentucky, Inc., in which the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, The Kentucky Department of Revenue, and eight horse racing associations were seeking judicial approval for historical racing, Justice Daniel J. Venters noted that one such historical racing device appears similar to a slot machine. Representatives of Colonial Downs Group talk about the appeal of new historical horse-racing machines. The racetrack will include 600 of the machines at its.
On October 8, the Wyoming Pari-Mutuel Commission, which regulates state gaming, issued an order suspending all historical horse racing machine operations until they could be brought into compliance with the Attorney General’s report.
At a special meeting this morning the committee heard from Race Tech, the vendor who wrote the software for these machines. A company spokesperson said it will need between 12 and 15 weeks to write a software update.
'It’s going to be really tough,'said Wyoming Horse Racing LLC President Eugene Joyce, who runs live horse races and operates historical horse racing machines in the state. 'For all of our stakeholders: my employees, the cities and counties, the horsemen. We all take a financial hit. I don’t know any business that can stop operating [for 12-15 weeks] and still survive.'
Wyoming Pari-Mutuel Commission Executive Director Charles Moore said that the Commission had no choice but to suspend the machines after the state Attorney General released his report, but he doesn’t expect historic horse racing to go away in the state forever. 'We are all looking at this as a long-term situation,' he said. 'And hopefully, with the permits moving swiftly to rectify the concerns and problems we see we can get this back on track.'
But historical horse racing machines were controversial long before these most recent developments.
Before historical horse racing machines were suspended in the state the Wyoming Downs racing parlor in Laramie was a popular place to be. Lu Schellhaas is a regular there when I visit she’s on a hot streak: up to $750 from a $10 bet.
'So this is when I should go home,' she said. 'But no, I am going to hit the button again!'
Schellhaas is playing Wyoming Downs' most popular attraction: a historical horse racing machine. These games have the lights and sounds of a classic casino-style slot machine. But while slots determine whether you win at random, historical racing machines are tied to the outcome of a past horse race. Before you hit the big bet button, you're shown a display of horse racing stats, and you’re supposed to use those stats to pick your three cherries, or dancing cowboys, or whatever variables the machine uses.
When Wyoming’s legislators approved historical horse racing in 2013 they did on the basis that it was a game of skill. Slots are considered a game of chance. So, you might think it’s safe to assume a winning player like Schellhaas knows a bit about horse racing, right? Well, not really.
'I don’t know a thing,” Schellhaas said after another high-yield push of the button. 'You don’t really need to.'
The games at Wyoming Downs offer an experience similar to playing slots at one of Wyoming’s Native American-run casinos, but without the long drive. Right now, historical horse racing machines are legal in Oregon, Arkansas, and Kentucky, and are being debated in Texas. They are technically still legal here in Wyoming too but are suspended until their software can be changed. These are states where traditional slot machines are restricted to Native American casinos or where they're banned entirely. But even though the players might not care much for actual horse racing, the horse racing industry cares a lot about these players.
There were 32 days of live horse racing in Wyoming this year, up from four race days before historical horse racing machines were legalized in 2013.
'There would be no live horse racing in Wyoming if not for historical horse racing,' said Eugene Joyce, who puts on live horse races and also operates historical horse racing machines in the state.
In Wyoming, and in most of the other states with historical horse racing machines, only companies that put on live horse racing are allowed to run historical horse racing machines. Joyce said his company, Wyoming Horse Racing LLC, is projected to bring in about $11 million this year, and 91 percent of that gross revenue will come from historical horse racing machines. About a quarter of that is paid in taxes. Joyce says he uses much of the profit he makes from the machines to fund live horse races, which he says is otherwise a money-losing operation. He says the electronic games are just a way to bring the thrill of live horse racing to a wider audience.
'Make no mistake, it is 100 percent horse racing, but it's packaged in a way to appeal to a new customer base,' he said.
But when the people who run Wyoming’s only legal traditional slot machines look at places like Wyoming Downs, they don’t see horse racing.
'If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it's a duck,' said Wind River Casino CEO James Conrad. 'The bottom line is that these are slot machines.'
The casino sits on Wyoming’s Wind River Indian Reservation, and Conrad said more business at places like Wyoming Downs means less business at the reservation casinos. Idaho lawmakers legalized historical horse racing machines two years ago, but recently banned them after a coalition of state tribes raised objections. Conrad said his casino is the largest employer on the reservation.
Historical Horse Racing Machines
' We have 800 employees. Ninety percent are Native American,' he said. 'And if we have slot machines everywhere [in the state], it will affect the number of employees we have.'
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It may look like a regular slot machine and play like one, but a video lottery terminal differs quite a bit in terms of how winners are determined.
VLT gaming machines are usually equated more with games like bingo, pull-tabs, scratch-offs, or lotto than they are with slot machines. This is because there are a pre-determined number of winners, and players are competing with each other for a prize rather than against the house. There is also not necessarily a winner in each game.
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Video Lottery Terminals (Class II machines)
VLTs are most often found in Indian gaming casinos or “racinos” (location with both a horse racetrack, as well as a casino). Each machine or terminal in a casino is linked together, forcing players to compete against one another for the prize, and with a set number of wins and losses, the group of machines is preprogrammed to payout at specific times.
The only catch for VLT machines is that players must announce their win in order to get the payout because the games are interactive. Although not every game has a winner, the game will be ongoing until a winner is determined.
As indicated by the name, video lottery winners are determined much like a lottery scratch card. Basically, when a game starts on a VLT, the system the machines are connected to randomly chooses a “scratch-off ticket” from those that remain. Once it receives the information regarding the winner, it sends the results to the VLT to reveal the winner, typically in some entertaining way.
Winning at VLT Machines
Obviously, the machine doesn’t have the ability to actually scratch off a ticket, but it does choose the winner from a pool, similar to a lottery ticket. Once all the outcomes in a pool are chosen, the central system receives a new pool.
Historical Racing Machine Vs Slot Machines
The payouts can be slightly different on VLTs, as well. According to readybetgo.com, “The final results wouldn’t be noticeably different if the RNG simply picked one number from a group of numbers. Thus the mathematic methods of supplying the decisions in VLTs may be radically different than traditional RNG methods. But in the end, 1 in 10 is still 1 in 10, and 1 in 5,000 is still 1 in 5,000.” The artible goes on to explain that the reason VLTs can be slightly tighter is that they’re offered in areas where there is little competition. In fact, the typical payout is anywhere from 85% to 92%. So, if you’re playing in a casino that offers both VLTs and traditional slots machines, you’re probably better off with the latter.
Slot Machines (Class III)
Slot machines often referred to as “Vegas-style” or traditional slots are the machines you’re probably used to playing. Each traditional slot machine in a casino plays independently from other machines. The only way in which they are linked is usually in terms of the jackpot, but this is only for progressive networks.
Contrary to popular thought, there is no way to know if a certain machine is “hot.” The typical belief is that if a machine has just paid out, you shouldn’t play on it. This is simply not true. Because of the Random Number Generator, each machine has exactly the same likelihood of paying out. Unlike VLTs, slot machines are also not preprogrammed to pay out at any time, so you always have a chance at the jackpot!
When Do You Win?
To put players at ease who may have abandoned a machine in the past only to watch it pay out for the next player, you must understand that RNGs are programmed down to the millisecond, so the odds of winning if you had stayed are low. Because of this, the lever must be pulled at almost the exact time the winning number is generated.
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Unlike VLTs, slot machine wins are immediate, and winners don’t have to announce their win to receive a prize. Although, I wouldn’t discourage any hooting and hollering if you’ve just landed a $10,000 jackpot. You earned it.